diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 96cfc44e83e..fa4eb130626 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Added
 
 - Allow update offsets of ±timestep in ExtData2G
+- Minor revision (and generalization) of grid-def for GSI purposes
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/base/MAPL_DefGridName.F90 b/base/MAPL_DefGridName.F90
index c6eeb8504f0..72372da7199 100644
--- a/base/MAPL_DefGridName.F90
+++ b/base/MAPL_DefGridName.F90
@@ -5,38 +5,16 @@ subroutine MAPL_DefGridName (im,jm,gridname,iamroot)
 character(len=*),intent(out)::gridname
 character(len=2) poletype
 character(len=3) llcb
-character(len=30) myfmt
+character(len=30) imstr,jmstr
 poletype='PC'
 if(mod(jm,2)==0) poletype='PE'
 
 llcb='-DC' ! lat-lon
 if(6*im==jm) llcb='-CF' ! cubed
 
-! there has to be a smarter way to do this format 
-if(im>10.and.im<100.and.&
-   jm>10.and.jm<100) then
-   myfmt='(a,i2,a,i2,a)'
-endif
-if(im>100.and.im<1000.and.&
-   jm>10.and.jm<100) then
-   myfmt='(a,i3,a,i2,a)'
-endif
-if(im>100.and.im<1000.and.&
-   jm>100.and.jm<1000) then
-   myfmt='(a,i3,a,i3,a)'
-endif
-if(im>1000.and.im<10000.and.&
-   jm>100 .and.jm<1000) then
-   myfmt='(a,i4,a,i3,a)'
-endif
-if(im>100 .and.im<1000.and.&
-   jm>1000.and.jm<100) then
-   myfmt='(a,i3,a,i4,a)'
-endif
-if(im>1000.and.im<10000.and.&
-   jm>1000.and.jm<10000) then
-   myfmt='(a,i4,a,i4,a)'
-endif
-write(gridname,fmt=trim(myfmt)) trim(poletype),im,'x',jm,trim(llcb)
-if(iamroot)print*,'MAPL_DefGridName: ',trim(gridname)
+write(imstr,'(I0)') im
+write(jmstr,'(I0)') jm
+
+gridname=trim(poletype)//trim(imstr) // 'x' // trim(jmstr) // trim(llcb)
+
 end subroutine MAPL_DefGridName